Summary: What if you have a chance to go back to your past and change your life? What if you can live your life differently, make new choices? Will it make a difference? Or will making a different choice still take you down the same route? What if your decision changes the rest of your life and everything is different from what it is supposed to be? What would happen if you make the wrong choice?
Tomoyo gripped her almost husband's hand tightly as she gazed into the pale face of her cousin. Sakura looked so fragile and pale lying there motionless with the oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth. Tomoyo turned eyes brimming with tears to Syaoran, "She can't die Syaoran, not today, not on our wedding day, not anytime soon. Why did this happen, why did this happen to her?"
Syaoran's heart nearly broke at his bride's tragic expression. He put his hand behind her head and pulled her face into the crook of his shoulder. He felt her arms closed about his waist and her tears soaking up his tux jacket. He stroked her head in smooth, long moves, comforting her as best as he knew how. He knew Tomoyo and Sakura were very close and to have Sakura collapsed in front of their eyes was a shock to her. The way Sakura just fainted for no reason at all was strange. Sakura was a healthy person, and she was a doctor for God's sake! She would know that she was sick. A thought struck Syaoran as he looked at Sakura, maybe she did know she was sick, only that she didn't tell anyone because Tomoyo was counting on Sakura to be her bridesmaid. Knowing Sakura, she probably kept her sickness to herself because she couldn't bear to disappoint her.
The heart-monitoring machine that had been beeping steadily suddenly started beeping twice as fast. Syaoran's hands reached out unconsciously towards Sakura's hand and wrapped tightly around hers as if his hand holding on to hers would stop her from dying.
"Sakura!" He said urgently, and the raw edge of fear in his voice made Tomoyo quickly lifted her head from Syaoran's shoulder to turn to her cousin. Tomoyo was just in time to see the line on the screen of the heart-monitoring machine turned into a flat line and hear the machine emitting a steady hum.
"No!" Tomoyo jerked out of Syaoran's embrace and hurled herself at her cousin's lifeless body. "Wake up! Wake up Sakura!" She screamed as she shook Sakura. "You can't, Sakura! Wake up!" Tears ran unchecked down her lovely face and dripped onto Sakura's face. "Wake up… Sakura… Please…" Tomoyo dropped her head onto Sakura's shoulder and hugged her tightly. Syaoran stood stiffly by and watched his bride and her cousin stoically. After a while, Syaoran looked down. He realized that he was holding Sakura's cooling hand in his. He stared hard at their intertwined hands and felt tears pricking the back of his eyeballs.
Year 2003
"You mean you haven't had a boyfriend before? As in, NEVER before?" Junlai's voice steadily increased in volume towards the end of her question, attracting the attention of everyone who was in the cafeteria. Sakura glared at her friend as she flushed bright red at the attention and tried to slouch down in the chair to hide herself.
Sakura can still remember the day where Tomoyo received that offer for a blooming modeling career. It would have been great if Tomoyo was not forced to move to Hong Kong to pursue it. Inseparable as they were, Sakura sacrificed everything she had in Japan to join her cousin. Unfortunately, to be a model Tomoyo needed to give up school and settle for home schooling, abandoning Sakura in her new surrounding. This made Sakura appreciate the few friends she had made, here in Hong Kong, even more. Though at times, they just didn't understand her, but then again, her friends in Japan were no better.
"Why don't you use a loudspeaker? It would been more effective in helping you distribute that piece of gossip," Sakura hissed angrily at Junlai. Junlai smiled sheepishly back at Sakura, "Sorry, I was just so shocked. I mean, you're 17 years old for crying out loud! And you've never had a boyfriend before? Never liked any boy before? Never had any crush before? That's just… just…"
"Unbelievable?" Sakura added helpfully when Junlai seemed to have trouble coming up with an adjective.
"Abnormal!" Junlai corrected loudly, then looked around, found some people still staring at them in cafeteria, and looked at Sakura helplessly. "Sorry, but you have to admit that you are abnormal. Other girls your age must have gone through a dozen crushes by now, and you? You've never even liked a guy before. You must have a screw loose in your head."
Sakura sighed, Junlai didn't understand at all. It wasn't that she was abnormal; it was just that she hadn't met anyone worth the trouble falling in love with yet. Not in Japan, not in Hong Kong. She was starting to believe that she would never meet that special someone who would make her heart flutter, her stomach queasy and her mind explode in fireworks. She wanted someone who would love her as much as she loved him. She wanted someone who wanted no one but her. She wanted the kind of love that every woman raved about, that every romance novel wrote about, that every poet expounded on.
"No chemical reaction," Sakura told Junlai with a small shrug. "I haven't met anyone who match my ideals, so why bother?"
"Well, you can lower you expectations. It wouldn't kill you to go out on one date with a cute guy." Junlai's gaze focused on someone over Sakura's shoulder and her expression turned dreamy. "Like Hufei."
Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously on her friend who was obviously dazzled by Hufei and slowly turned around… to find Hufei making a beeline for their table. Sakura turned back to face Junlai hastily. She found her friend's attention on her now and Junlai was smirking at her. "Any chemical reaction with him?" Junlai asked.
"Yes," Sakura snapped, standing up and getting ready to walk away from Junlai and the approaching Hufei, "an overwhelming desire to get away from the both of you."
"Sakura!" Junlai called out at the same time Hufei called out. Sakura turned around not because both of them were calling her, but because she heard a third voice calling out to her and that voice made her heart skipped a beat. It was a male voice, heavily accented and it made her turn around to see who possessed it.
Her world turned black as she turned around, the last thing she heard was that accented voice calling her name again.
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Author's Note: Can you guys guess what would happen next? Anyways, please tell me what you think and REVIEW because this way I'll update faster. Your comments motivate me! Well... Toodles for now *wink*.